The presidential candidates, with their rolled-up sleeves and let’s-get-down-to-business speeches, are ever so passionate and noble during their campaigns.

They wrap themselves in the flag and would have you believe that everything is going to be all right, so long as you cast your vote their way. Then, after all of the flag-waving dies down, we’re left with the same items on the national to-do list that we’ve been meaning to get around to since at least the mid 1960s.

In response to the 1973 oil embargo, President Richard Nixon hastily drew up plans and imposed new regulations to ensure that “…at the end of this decade, in the year 1980, the United States will not be dependent on any other country for the energy we need … to keep our transportation moving.”

Today, with gas nearly $4 per gallon, and despite research into alternative fuels, we still shell out billions of dollars for oil mostly from countries who, if not outright hate us, at least want nothing more to do with us than a “Sure, I’ll take your money!” kind of relationship.

The older I get, the more I realize that I live in a country full of talkers, not doers.

We see this stuff year after year. This is the year we’re going to help small businesses grow, or better educate our young people, or provide more affordable and encompassing medical care to our older people.

It’s all talk

It sounds nice, it’s great for hometown rallies and garnering funds for the party, but in the end it’s a lot of talk and not a lot of action.

Here’s an old favorite that was recently rehashed: We’re finally going to become financially responsible as a nation, cut wasteful spending, live within our means and reign in that unruly national debt.

Well … maybe, but first we’d need a legislative branch — among other things — that was capable of simply functioning as a collective unit, i.e., a legislature that doesn’t genuinely consider it a smashing success when they avoid compromise and raise the debt ceiling at the last second to avoid defaulting on our loans.

Politics as usual

Well, there are some folks in this country that have this crazy notion of similar input resulting in similar output, or reaping what you sow, or a mathematical equation balancing equally on both sides.

The point is, if the same groups of people harboring similar ideals with similar business affiliates and similar corporations financing their campaigns are elected to office in every presidential election, how can we honestly expect significant change?

I’m talking of course about the Democrats and Republicans, and how few Americans these days seem to approve of the performance of either party.

As a country, the populous have surrendered to the notion that they have only two real choices on election day: vote for the bleeding hearts on the left who seem to think that our monetary resources are infinite, and who spend this imaginary money on social programs that, for better or worse, make government a bigger part of our lives; or you can vote for the scowling old vultures on the right who were mostly raised in privileged homes, think that governmental aid is for the weak and useless, and who generally make it a top priority to ruin every body’s good time.

Growing dissatisfaction

What’s depressing is the fact that people you talk to everyday, from all walks of life, seem to be dissatisfied with the leaders they put in power, knowing full well that there are a multitude of alternatives.

It’s time to give a third party — any third party — a chance to alter the course of our nation. The two-party system in the U.S. is outdated, has outgrown its usefulness to the citizenry and has stagnated and even reversed our progress as a superpower.

I’m tired of the whining and finger-pointing from both Democrats and Republicans who claim that it’s the other guys who have it all wrong, and if we’d just do it their way, we’d be riding the gravy train.

How much more time do they need? How many more chances does either of them deserve, to make some positive changes that benefit the majority of Americans?

And now we come full circle, back to the initial tragedy of the great American illness: talking and not doing. Many of you know that when you vote Democrat or Republican, you’re backing whatever interest groups are funding them.

You’ve all used the term “lesser of two evils” when speaking frankly about your choice for president.

Newsflash: any vote that is cast for somebody who you don’t truly believe to be the best person available for the job is an evil. Thinking that it’ll never happen because not enough people will go along with you is an evil. For the sake of the citizens of the U.S., talking about being fed up with the status quo and not using your vote in an effort to make positive change is an evil.

What needs to be done

At this point, Obama isn’t exactly any one’s hero, and the chance of his re-election is slim. So do we vote for a Republican because maybe, just maybe, this time will be different? Or do we start doing instead of just talking?

Research the enormous amount of third parties, both big and small, and find the one that most closely coincides with your ideals, passions and plans. And on election day, set yourself apart from the talkers and vote for real change.